Abstract

The present study initially arose from a general interest of the writer for food, perceived as a deep rooted culture-bound aspect of society and hence a potential ‘culture bump’ in cross-cultural communication and translation practices. (Archer 1986, Leppihalme 1997, Chiaro 2008). Driven by stark economical and social changes that had occurred in Western society from the 1950s onwards, the role of food and food related practices gradually untied from their mere sustenance function, and took on new many-sided dimensions. Modern society is undergoing dramatic changes in the field of nutrition and culinary discourse, as mirrored in the extensive media coverage of food topics. Even more strikingly so in a country, like Britain that has now apparently turned into a nation of food experts, where the average citizen used to be scarcely interested in food and healthy eating (Chiaro 2008:195). Food consumption has acquired the dimension of a cultural movement and a fashion trend. Chefs have achieved the popularity and status of superstars, as only pop music singers and actors used to do in the past. This can be easily explained if we assume that in Britain food has become a lifestyle as both journalists and thinkers have not failed to notice: “Londoners used to define themselves by which designers they wore or which music they listened to; today, it’s which restaurant they frequent, whose recipes they’re trying.” Britain is nowadays the number one exporter of television celebrity chefs. The symptoms of this epochal change range from TV chefs’ campaigns for the consumption of healthier food and for the use of local ingredients and home grown vegetables, to the choice of the most extravagant restaurant and the intake of the ultimate fusion cuisine delicatessen, to a return to the comforts of home made food and family values